The present invention relates to valves and more particularly to a ball valve with improved characteristics.
A conventional ball valve A is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The ball valve A comprises a ball A1 and a stem A2 extended vertically from ball A1 both formed of plastic material. Further, both ball A1 and stem A2 are integrally formed or separately manufactured connectable components. Finally, ball valve A is mounted in a housing pipe B. By configuring as this, ball valve A is used to regulate or shut off the flow of fluid through the pipe housing B.
However, the prior art suffered from several disadvantages. For example, ball A1 and pipe B tend to closely connect together, resulting in an unsmooth operation of ball A1 when rotating stem A2. This is because both ball A1 and pipe B are formed of plastic material as well as no interface component is provided there between. Further, microorganisms may grow at the junction of ball A1 and pipe B. This is unhealthy if the fluid is tap water. Referring to FIG. 1C, there is shown pipe B sleeved on another pipe C. In general, an adhesive D is applied on the cylindrical interface between pipes B and C. But adhesive D may incidentally process. Such adhered ball A1 and pipe C will make a regulation of the flow of fluid in the pipe C impossible.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an improved ball valve in order to overcome the above drawbacks of prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ball valve comprising a ball, a stem extended vertically from the ball, both being formed of plastic material, and a layer of metal film coated on the ball by electroplating. The coated metal film, prevents the ball from contacting a pipe housing. Further, microorganisms can not grow at the junction of the ball and pipe housing. Furthermore, in a case that the pipe housing is sleeved on another pipe by applying an adhesive that may adhere on the ball can be easily peeled off during operation. This ensures a smooth regulation of the flow of fluid in the pipe housing.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.